Bakken, Eagle Ford Make US World’s Top Energy Producer

By The Bakken Magazine Staff | November 11, 2013

During an October meeting on flare reduction approaches suitable for the Bakken shale formation, Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, said the role of the Bakken in the world’s energy picture was an important point of discussion. One of the main talking points during that meeting, he said, was the reality that the Bakken is changing the global energy landscape. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has proof that the Bakken is changing the world. In 2013, the U.S. will be the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons, according to the EIA, a spot that will move the U.S. ahead of both Russia and Saudi Arabia. Credit the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales for the new ranking. Since 2008, petroleum production in the U.S. has risen by 7 quadrillion Btu, “with dramatic growth in Texas and North Dakota,” EIA said. Natural gas production has increased by 3 quadrillion Btu over the same period, but, both Russia and Saudi Arabia were only able to increase their combined hydrocarbon outputs by roughly 1 quadrillion Btu.

Although in the past five years, Russia and the U.S. produced nearly equal amounts of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon, 2013 has been a different story. This year, the U.S. will produce 5 quadrillion Btu more than Russia.